Homes of McConnell and Pelosi are vandalized
The homes of the two highest-ranking members of Congress — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — have been vandalized, police said, after the Senate stalled Friday on increasing stimulus checks to $2,000 for millions of Americans.
After McConnell's Louisville home was marked with graffiti early Saturday morning, the Kentucky Republican denounced the incident as a "radical tantrum."
"Vandalism and the politics of fear have no place in our society. My wife and I have never been intimidated by this toxic playbook. We just hope our neighbors in Louisville aren't too inconvenienced by this radical tantrum," McConnell said in a statement.
"Were's (sic) my money" was scrawled on McConnell's front door in what looks like white spray paint, according to photos from the scene taken by CNN affiliate WDRB.
Louisville Metro Police Department's 5th Division is investigating the matter and have not yet identified any suspect(s), spokesman Dwight Mitchell said.
Early Friday morning, a home in San Francisco belonging to Pelosi was vandalized, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
"Unidentified suspect(s) had painted graffiti on the garage door and left a pig's head on the sidewalk," the police department said in a statement obtained by CNN.
The SFPD Special Investigations Division is investigating. CNN has reached out to Pelosi for comment.
The two separate incidents come as Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pushed, without success, for a Senate vote on $2,000 stimulus checks Friday as the clock winds down on the 116th Congress.
The effort was blocked by Senate Republicans including McConnell, who have largely argued that increasing stimulus checks would not be the kind of "targeted relief" necessary to respond to the economic distress caused by the pandemic, despite the fact that President Donald Trump has called for that amount and the House of Representatives on Monday passed a measure to increase the direct payments to Americans.
McConnell has been critical of the push to increase the checks, multiple times saying the amount is "simply not the right approach" and repeating an argument that much of it is "socialism for rich people."
Pelosi and Democrats moved quickly to bring legislation on increased payments after Trump complained following last week's bipartisan effort that included $600 stimulus checks for many Americans. The House passed that legislation on Monday.
The second stimulus package that Congress did pass included $600 direct payments, half the amount provided in the first round of checks, which went out in the spring.
